NeuroNerd86

Glasses, I remember reading about it in GRE prep books like Kaplan and Princeton review. I imagine they wouldn't make it up, so ETS probably does send the essays to the schools, either upon request or automatically.

It might be different for humanities majors, but for sciences 4.0 is not a concern as I've been told. In any case, 800 should beat 4.0 easily.

not yet..... but my earliest apps were Dec 1st so I doubt I'll hear anything back from schools anytime too soon

if it's a consolation to anyone, I was recently assured by the program coordinator at one major public university that ALL applications get reviewed and NOT a single one get tossed right after they see the scores are not high enough to their standards.

Hello everyone, I was wondering if anyone can help me with my international GPA dilemma. Basically, I attended a university in another country for 2 years prior to moving to the US. Grading system there is on 5.0 scale, but the official transcript does not have grades, it has adjectives instead - i.e., if the grade is 5, it says "excellent", if it's a 4, it says "good" and so on. Therefore, there is no official GPA on the transcript. However, unofficially, people frequently use the "average grade" for general reference, which is not GPA per se, because it doesn't take number of units into consideration (there is no such thing as units in that system), so it's just all scores summed up and divided by the number of classes. With that being said, I know that my average grade is about 4.6 out of 5, but my transcript doesn't state that explicitly. All applications require to write in the GPA at every institution attended. So my question is - should I put in that 4.6 on a 5 point scale, or should I just leave it blank? I feel that since it's a decent average it is worth mentioning and I'm not lying about anything, but I don't want any confusion either. Did anyone else have a similar issue? thank you!!

Alexis, I concur:)! Swisnieski, I actually know a person who got into some ridiculous biomed program at Stanford with 3.1. Oh hope!

Hello everyone, I was wondering if anybody knows why some schools do not disclose any information on what average GPA/GRE they expect from their applicants. Furthermore, some schools don't even post the minimum criteria, besides the bachelor's degree and the general GRE. I'm just wondering if it can be due to the differences in the applicants' other activities, such as research experience and publications, and therefore the average grades/scores do not give the right idea of what kind of applicant a school is looking for. Or can it be due to some other reasons? Just wondering if anybody knows!

Drexel University biomedical PhD online application is free. So is NIH GPP (but that one is just one step, you also have to apply to a partner school)

I agree with Catilina, I would definitely share the law school abstract and mention it in your SOP briefly.

For me it was very accurate actually. For my actual test I got about average of my practice scores for verbal and the highest score for math that I got practicing. So there were no surprises.

1320 is exactly my score too (560V/760Q/4.0 AW) and I'm also not a native speaker. Everybody I talked to said it should be good enough since math is solid and for life sciences (and I'm sure for physics too) it's one score that matters the most.

UCLA - if you live close to school then walking/biking is fine. However, if you live elsewhere (and in LA you most likely will because Westwood neighborhood is INSANELY expensive) car will save you a lot of heartache. Commute from the valley is painful, but possible; same goes for downtown. West LA is better because public transportation is relatively decent and buses run frequently. If you want to take advantage of what LA has to offer during your days off, you definitely need a car. UCI - just around the school biking is good (walking - not so much). But Orange County in general has horrible public transportation, so you REALLY need a car to get around.

a friend of mine who used to be on the admissions committee proof read my first draft of SOP which was about 1600 words, so just a bit larger than yours. He said it was definitely too long. Since the committee members have to read through so many of those things, they simply get bored with anything longer than 2 pages. However, since your programs either allow 2,500 words or don't have limit at all, they can definitely expect some "War and Peace" style essays. In that case, if you shorten yours successfully, you will actually stand out in a good way as someone who didn't make them tired:) I know it is hard to make it smaller though, since you essentially have to squeeze in the story of your life into 2 pages. Good luck!

Thanks so much Amanda! I guess I made that mistake because the description of an essay that they provide is pure SOP and not PS, but they still call it PS anyway

Hello everyone, So I have this really really really stupid problem. The admissions website of the univ where I just submitted my application indicates that you are supposed to submit a personal statement describing your academic background, research experience, and career goals in 2-4 double-spaced pages. I followed the instructions exactly, addressed all the topics, did not exceed word limit and all in all was quite pleased with myself. However, when I hit the "submit" button, I realized that my essay is titled Statement of Purpose, not Personal Statement. So now I am concerned whether it is going to affect my application in a negative way:(. What do you think? Since I followed all the instructions properly and the only mixup was the title, not the content, will they forgive me for that or I am starting to lose points already? I even emailed the admissions coordinator pointing out this issue and apologizing for any inconvenience it might cause Help! Thank you!

I talked to the big boss at my laboratory another day - he used to be on the admissions committee for the neuroscience program at the major university for a couple of times. He said that GRE scores are the first thing the committee looks at, because it is the most standard thing there is in all applicants' files.

Hello everyone, I know that there are plenty of posts like that on the board, but I really really reallly need your honest opinion on my chances. I'm applying for PhD graduate programs in neuroscience, however I feel like I'm far behind my fellow applicants in the field. Here are my stats: GPA for 2 years at the top school in my native country: 4.65/5 (majored in bio) GPA from the American college of graduation: 3.097/4 (top public school, majored in neuroscience) GRE: 580V/760Q/?? AW TOEFL: exempt 2 years of undergrad research experience almost 2 years of full-time staff research experience in neuroscience lab 1 pending 2nd author paper, 2 abstracts (1 first author) 4 posters (2 first author) National award in the related research field (top 5 poster at the conference-I think I was the only non-grad student or post-docs competing but I'm not sure) probably will receive good LORs from my supervisors at the lab and some professors. My American undergrad GPA is honestly killing me. I know it is not hopelessly awful, but I have some pretty bad grades- I failed a class in my major (to be fair, it is one class with a VERY high failure rate, I retook the following quarter and got a B+), got some Cs and had to withdraw from 2 classes very late. I'm not making any excuses and it is my fault entirely, but I did have some hindering circumstances: -some family stuff -hence an awful quarter with a D and one of the withdrawals -since I was in the US for only a year prior to getting into a college, I was plain lost and overwhelmed for some time (hence the first withdrawal when I realized I am going to fail the class). It didn't really help that I already attended a university in another country and it got me "wired" differently, since the system is nothing like the one in the US. I am being realistic about my chances for getting into a top program being slim to none, but I'm just not sure if I should hope that I will get into a decent program altogether. How should I address the issues listed above to show the admissions committee that I am aware of my shortcomings without sounding like a total whiny? please help! Many thanks in advance!